


Requiem for Trust

by NMTD



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, M/M, One/Two Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:00:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26601028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NMTD/pseuds/NMTD
Summary: In that moment, all Zoro can hear is the sound of their wall of trust tumbling to the ground. Suddenly he doesn't want to be on the receiving end of more information. Suddenly he finds himself drained of energy to do anything other than to be alone with his thoughts.Alone, so he can mourn the death of their trust.
Relationships: Roronoa Zoro/Vinsmoke Sanji
Comments: 24
Kudos: 77





	1. Chapter 1

Melted chocolate is afraid of two things: heat and moisture.

Zoro recites Robin's tips in his mind as he quickly stirs the chocolate chips in the cook's double boiler. The strawberries are washed and dried three times over and laid out on a piece of paper towel within his reach. This is not that hard. He has gone over the procedure at least ten times in his head. Execution shouldn't be a problem.

He has picked the simplest dessert recipe he could find, purposely avoiding anything that demands the use of the cook's precious knives. The cook makes no exceptions when it comes to endlessly fussing over his knives being touched by anyone but their owner, even if it's used for a Valentine's Day surprise.

Though it shouldn't be a surprise anymore. It has more or less become a tradition. For just one day a year, Zoro would put away his intense dislike of sweets and consumerized holidays and give his favourite cook the utmost selfless gift of a handmade dessert. Of course the quality wouldn't be anywhere close to Sanji's standards, but he knows just how much the cook appreciates the effort from that first look of pure adoration, moments before a multitude of sarcastic compliments come pouring out of those smoke-filled lips every year. The cook loves it when Zoro makes horrible sweets for him on Valentine's Day. There's no doubt about it.

His phone vibrates. Zoro carefully removes the pot of half melted chocolate from the boiler and sets it aside before digging a hand into his pant pocket. It's a message from an unknown number.

 _Hi Zoro, my name is Pudding._ It says.

A phishing scam? He wonders where these bastards get his contact. It's not like he ever signs up for suspicious looking advertisements with his phone number. He's about to get back to the cooling chocolate chips when a familiar name flashes across the screen along with another buzz.

 _Sanji just told me today..._ The notification says, cutting off the rest of the message. Curious, Zoro taps to open the message.

_Sanji just told me today about your obsession with swords. I'm reading a book about swords lately, and I think you might find it interesting. It's called -_

His obsession, Zoro scoffs. Sounds like the shit cook alright. Not like he ever called the blond's passion for cooking an obsession. But seriously, who is this complete stranger who thinks it's a good idea to chat him up on swords just because they both know the blond? Zoro scrolls back to look for a name.

_Pudding._

The name jogs the swordsman's memories. There was a girl with that name, a girl the cook used to date long before he ended up with Zoro, at least according to the cook himself, who is supposed to be at work until after dinner rush tonight.

Zoro knows that the cook has the tendency to chat up any female customers if he happens to be filling in for one of the servers, and if the customer happens to be an ex-girlfriend, it's highly likely that the blond would take a short break to join her at the table for a bit of catching up. However, instinct tells him that this woman is trying to imply something entirely different. It feels as if she is deliberately stressing the word "today", Valentine's Day. Zoro decides to ask the blond about it later before putting the pot of chocolate back on the boiler.

It's not that he suspects Sanji of being unfaithful in any way. The cook is addicted to the type of romance that appears only in movies and love songs, but he can be outright oblivious when it comes to real life situations. Early in their relationship one day, Zoro received a phone call from the blond close to midnight, two hours after he got off his dinner shift, asking if the swordsman needs anything that night because he was about to spend the night at a "friend's" place. When met with Zoro's obvious confusion, this was Sanji's response.

"I _said_ , it's Viola-chan, the regular customer I told you about. I gave her a ride home, and now she asked me to join her for a drink in her apartment so I can't drive afterwards when I'm drunk. She said I can stay over for the night because her boyfriend is out of town. Do you need me? If you do I'll tell her I can't today."

The only reason Zoro even bothered asking him about it instead of ending the relationship that day was because he was clueless enough to call the swordsman about it. After a few rounds of questioning, it was clear that the cook honestly thought it was an innocent drinking get-together, and the fact that the boyfriend was out of town just meant there was an extra bed for him to sleep in.

"She could've sold you into slavery, and you'd still be thanking her for the invite." Zoro told him after the fact, but to this day, the blond still defends the shady woman. This "Pudding" might just be another fruit fly taking advantage of Sanji's trusting nature. Either way, he needs to learn some boundaries.

The smell of burning snaps Zoro's attention back at the double boiler. Steam is shooting out from all sides along the crack between the two pots, raining a thin layer of mist over the upper pot. The swordsman grabs a spoon and examines the thick lumpy chocolate paste. It's not at all what it's supposed to look like, but food shouldn't be wasted. Zoro shrugs and dumps the strawberries into the pot.

* * *

"Wow, shit-covered strawberries. How thoughtful!" Sanji pokes the ragged surface of one of the swordsman's creations with a toothpick. "And burnt too. How did you manage to do that with a double boiler? Such a talent." He mocks, but Zoro's trained eyes can easily pick out the fondness in his smug grin as he takes the first bite.

"Happy Valentine's Day to you too, Shit Cook." Zoro rolls his eyes at the blond, earning himself a kiss with the taste of cigarette and burnt chocolate.

"Don't be so hasty, Marimo. Of course I prepared something for you too." The blond whispers all too seductively in his ear before disappearing into the shower.

Zoro eyes the bathroom door, left slightly ajar as a clear invitation, with the cook's undressing shadow spilling through the gap. He takes a step forward, and the phone on the table vibrates just as the cook turns on the water. Zoro glances at the phone, trying to determine if it's urgent enough to interrupt a good long Valentine's Day shower, only to find that particular name dancing across the screen.

_INCOMING CALL: PUDDING._

Zoro glares at the phone, fighting the urge to answer the call. He tries to stop the vibration through his will power alone, and it seems to have worked after a few long seconds. Then come two short buzzes, and two new lines pop up on the screen.

_You're off work, right?_

_Home already?_

A casual tone with no mention of intentions, as if the messages are... expected, or dare he say... routine? Zoro picks up the phone and taps to enter the password.

1111, Zoro's birthday. It was Sanji's idea when they started this relationship that they set their phone passwords to each other's birthdays so that they can look through each other's phones at any time. No secrets, but no tampering. The first brick in their great wall of trust. Zoro rarely feels the need to use this provision, although he's plenty familiar with Sanji's phone, having been asked by the preoccupied cook to look through the message history and read out the takeout addresses or reservation times whenever he drops by the Baratie. Today is a little different though.

He opens the message history to find it empty except for the two just now.

"Leaving me in there alone just to spy on me out here, hmm?" The blond snakes a pair of damp hands around his chest from the back. Still wet strands of hair tickle the back of the swordsman's neck as the blond rests his stubbled chin on Zoro's shoulder.

"You've got a missed call and messages," Zoro hands him the phone, "and... this." He digs out his own phone to bring up his earlier messages from the same sender.

Zoro turns to study the cook as the man, still wrapped in a bath towel, reads through the few short messages. There's a split second of surprise, a slight pinch of confusion, and a low exhale of frustration. Sanji puts both phones down on the table and fishes out his cigarettes and lighter from the jacket by the door. He lights one, wordlessly meets Zoro's gaze, and seems to be taking his time considering how to start the explanation. The swordsman waits.

"Pudding, the ex I told you about." Sanji starts slowly, his visible blue eye watching the swordsman for reactions. "Are you... worried?" He pulls on a faint teasing smirk, but Zoro can tell it's a genuine question.

"Should I be?"

"She's on the other side of the globe, if that makes you feel better."

Zoro doesn't consider himself to be the jealous type. Sanji is a free spirit, and that's part of what Zoro loves about him. All he asks is for boundaries and principles to be kept. The cook struggles with the idea of boundaries at times, but they make it work because he understands principles just as well as the swordsman.

Principles, like honesty and trust, two sides of the same coin.

"The other side of the globe?"

"Yeah, she went back to Whole Cake Island about a year ago, to help out in her family business."

"And she knows when you get off work." It's a question phrased as a statement.

The blond averts his gaze and gets busy sucking on his cancer stick, a clear sign that he's nervous, like a child anticipating a scolding after getting into trouble. For a moment Zoro tries to remember when this kind of dynamic started, when Sanji started to feel the need to yield to the swordsman's demands in order to sustain the relationship. Zoro would never demand anything of the cook that they haven't already agreed on, and the idiot should know this by now.

"I... message her sometimes when I finish a shift to chat about the day, you know, when you're not picking up my calls."

Zoro stays quiet for a minute, trying to parse the new information. He does have a habit of missing the cook's calls when he sets his phone on silent for his meditation sessions and forgets to turn the volume back on. It's also true that Sanji is the type that absolutely needs to talk it out with someone to process the shit that happens during the day. His fault, he makes a mental note.

"I-I'll block and delete her if you want."

"You know I wouldn't ask you to do that."

"But if it'll make you happy-"

"I'm not unhappy. I was just curious about stuff," Zoro tries to sound as nonchalant as possible to calm the flustered blond, "like why an ex of yours would want to message _me_ on Valentine's Day, or... why your message history is empty even though you chat with her regularly."

"... I cleared her history... because there was some stuff I didn't want you to see." Sanji says in a near whisper, biting his trembling lower lip and keeping his blue eye glued to the table.

Years later, when all of this becomes a silly story of the past, Zoro will wonder that if the blond had made up some stupid lie about this one small detail, something along the lines of "My finger slipped and pressed the delete button," maybe the swordsman would've believed him without a shadow of a doubt, and maybe they would've carried on with their Valentine's Day celebration as planned. Years later, Zoro will wonder if it was ironically the cook's honesty that made the first dent in their trust.

But in that moment, all Zoro can hear is the sound of their wall of trust tumbling to the ground. Suddenly he's no longer curious about the whats or the whys or the hows or the whens. Suddenly he doesn't want to be on the receiving end of more information. Suddenly he finds himself drained of energy to do anything other than to be alone with his thoughts.

Alone, so he can mourn the death of their trust.

He grabs his keys and heads to the door.

"Zoro!" He hears Sanji's panicked voice.

"I'll be back." He tries to reassure the man. "I just need some time alone."

"You'll get lost! At least take your phone with you!"

"That's the point." He closes the door behind him and lets his feet take him wherever they want.

Lost is not a bad place to go to be alone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just want to let people know that I've started a collection for exchanging ZoSan prompts. If you're lacking inspiration, or if you have a story idea you don't feel like writing yourself, please take a look around here:
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/collections/ZoSan_Prompts_Slash_Or_Not/profile
> 
> Also, when I was little, I often had episodes of that "disappearing from the inside" that Sanji has here, and it was more of a physical feeling than emotional, like an intense discomfort in the chest that only seems to happen when you're alone. I still have no idea what it was or if I'm the only one, but it seems to have stopped after I filled my life with people I call my own. Lemme know if you've had the same.

"I'll be back. I just need some time alone." The swordsman says, his words casting a protective spell that keeps Sanji from his impending breakdown.

Sanji knows there's no use talking Zoro out of his need for solitude when he says he needs it, but the blond tries anyway, by throwing some inconsequential excuse at the man. The door clicks shut, and soon the all too familiar silence starts to close in on him.

"He'll be back. He said he'll be back." Sanji whispers to himself, trying to fend it off, but the invisible force envelopes him and starts clawing at his gut despite his efforts. It's like disappearing from the inside, a physical void starting from the heart and corroding its way outwards. The lungs, the stomach, the liver, the intestines, the bones, and the limbs, until he is sure he is just a head hanging in mid air. He fights the urge to curl up into a ball like he used to do many years ago.

Exhaling the last shaky breath of smoke, if only to make sure his lungs still exist, Sanji throws on an outfit, looks through his contact list, and calls the first person who might answer at this hour.

* * *

"So... let me get this straight." Nami twirls a lock of long ginger hair around her finger. "You, Sanji-kun the hopeless romantic, are out here alone destroying someone else's Valentine's Day plans because... you deleted a chat log from your own phone, and Zoro's mad at you for it."

Sanji gives her a small apologetic smile around his cigarette. He knew he would be chain smoking tonight, which is why he asked for a table in the far corner of the second floor patio, right by the railing overlooking the almost deserted street corner below. It's now almost midnight, and the February air is turning a bit chilly with a steady drizzle just beyond the roof above. Zoro is no doubt drenched in rain and aimlessly wandering one of these dark empty streets, but that's where he would rather be for now. Lost, and away from Sanji.

"Sorry Nami-san, I guess I wasn't thinking when I called." It completely escaped Sanji's panicked mind, when he dialed Usopp's number, that the long nose is no longer single. Sanji was the one who helped the man plan his confession to this other ex-girlfriend of the cook's just last month on New Year's Day.

"Good, so we agree that it's your treat today." Nami taps her glass on his. "I still don't get it though. Was Zoro planning on checking your phone?"

"No. He never does." Sanji answers absently. He's only half listening, but infinitely grateful for the couple's talkative nature that's helping him keep the silence at bay.

"Let's just cover the basics here." The long nose drums his fingers on his glass. "Were you cheating on Zoro? Purposely leading the woman on? Keeping your relationship status hidden so you can enjoy the attention you get from her?"

Sanji sends him a glare that would've made him cower in his seat a few years back, but today he merely backtracks.

"'K my bad. Stupid question. I know. You and Zoro. Soulmates." Usopp gives the blond a few exaggerated nods of agreement, earning himself a kick under the table. "But exactly what were you two talking about that had to be deleted?"

"It was all normal conversation until one day she... uh... said she can't-... she can't get-... she still has feelings for me."

"Ahh, I see." Nami nods. "So you firmly told her that it's not gonna happen and blocked and deleted her."

"Or," Usopp leans forward, "you told her how happy you are in your current relationship and she should stop bothering you."

The suggestions makes Sanji cringe.

"I... don't think I can call myself a decent human being if I did either of those things to a girl who's laying her bleeding heart in my path."

The red head shares a look with long nose.

"So what did you do instead?" Usopp frowns.

"Tried to talk her out of it." Sanji taps his cigarette over the ashtray. "By telling her how amazing she is as a person, how I'm not worthy of her affections, and how one day she'll find someone who will treat her the way she deserves."

"It worked?" Nami sounds unimpressed.

"No... She insisted she'll never meet anyone who sees her the way I do, so I told her I'll be around if she needs someone to talk to." The cook gives a defeated huff.

The pair stare at the blond for a second before turning to each other in a perfectly audible whisper.

"Now I get why Zoro is mad. I thought he's the jealous type." Nami leans into Usopp's ear.

"Right? I feel sorry for Zoro sometimes. He's the _textbook definition_ of the jealous type." Usopp cups his mouth with a hand.

"So how did they manage to stay together for so long?"

"Iono," Usopp shrugs, "true love? Or pure luck?"

"Knock it off, you two! I'm right here, and I can hear you just fine." Sanji snaps, drawing a round of snickers from the two.

"Alright, this... soulmate of yours, where IS he right now?" Nami crosses her arms, signaling the start of an interrogation and clearly having too much fun.

Sanji's heart sinks at the question. He nods at the rain.

"Out there, probably lost on a street corner somewhere."

"Does he _still_ not know that you can't be left alone after an argument?" Usopp matches Nami's posture and thinly veiled amusement.

"Well I haven't told him directly..."

"Come _on_ , it's Z _oro_! If you don't tell him directly. He. Does. Not. Know."

"I know that, but _he_ needs to be alone. That's just how..."

Sanji looks up to find that the two are no longer paying attention to him. Usopp holds out his phone and shares a look of agreement with his girlfriend before dailing.

"What... are you doing?"

"Checking up on him and offering our sympathy for putting up with you." Nami gives him a sideways glance.

"Wait, whose side are you on?"

"Yours, which is why we'll also explain to him why you're always with friends after every fight." Usopp holds up his phone.

Soon Sanji's pant pocket starts to vibrate. He digs out Zoro's ringing phone and throws it on the table. The two eye the device in frustration before hanging up.

"As I was saying, Zoro needs time alone when he's upset. That's how he processes shit. He can't think straight when there's noise, just like how I can't think straight when I'm alone."

It's one of the few things he knows for sure that Zoro needs, one of the man's rituals, so he'll defend it if he has to.

Now that he has their eyes on him, the air around the table becomes noticeably heavier. None of them move a muscle for a long moment.

"Sanji-kun," Nami slowly opens her mouth, "have you ever considered the possibility that this soulmate of yours is... not that compatible with you?"

Sanji feels his facial muscles twist involuntarily at the question.

"Oi Nami," Usopp pulls at the redhead's arm, "we're _not_ going there."

"Why not?" Nami whispers back.

" _Because_ , he's gonna kick our faces in."

"No he won't." Nami rolls her eyes.

"He'll kick _my_ face in." Usopp corrects, and Nami inhales in understanding.

"K, fine. You go get us another round of drinks." The redhead commands.

"Roger." Usopp stands to give a quick salute and dashes to the swinging door to the bar.

"Take your time. I've got this." Nami waves, and the long nose gives her a thumbs up without looking back.

Nami turns back to the blond, but before she can continue, she's interrupted by a string of sneezes. Sanji puts out his cigarette, takes off his jacket, and wraps it over her spaghetti strapped shoulders in a series of reflexive motions, pulling her trapped long hair over the back collar with practiced ease that he's surprised to find that he still has.

He knows what Nami is saying. In fact, he used to think the same way up until a year or two ago, that sustaining a relationship is a matter of compatibility. He has had enough relationships to know just how difficult it is to find someone who is "compatible", and for years he believed that all relationships are doomed to end the same way. Sooner or later, the two involved would come to the conclusion that they're not compatible in this way or that. The fact that some relationships seem to be going strong is only because they haven't found these incompatibilities yet. It's only a matter of time.

That's how his relationship with Nami ended too. They were incompatible because handled their wealth differently. That was all the reason they had, or needed, for a breakup.

"Nami-san, I think we both had it wrong. It's never about compatibility because it's not about how easy your life can be with them. It's about whether they're worth all the shit they put you through."

"And Zoro's worth it?" Nami asks quietly.

That is not even a question in the cook's mind. If anything, he has put the moss head through more shit than the other way around. Nothing ever feels like a burden if it's for Zoro, but the idiot is always holding himself back from making demands of any kind. If he would just tell Sanji not to talk to any exes, or anyone other than the marimo himself, his words alone would give Sanji the strength to get it done. But the blond has long accepted the fact that Zoro would never ask that, or anything, of him.

"Well, he makes me shit covered strawberries on Valentine's Day." Sanji says instead, not bothering to fight the goofy smile making its way up his face as he sits back in his chair.

Nami nods, putting on a smile with downcast eyes.

"That I never did." She chuckles. Sanji is thankful that she's not pursuing the subject further. Maybe things wouldn't have ended between them if Sanji knew what he knows now, but they both understand that the moment to explore that possibility passed years ago.

"Is... this a good time to be back? Or should I make a trip to the bathroom now?" Usopp slides three new glasses onto the table.

"Do you like shit covered strawberries by any chance?" Nami pats the empty seat in reply.

"I don't want to know why you're asking that." The long nose makes a face of disgust. "Oh, and Sanji, is it bad that on my way back here I saw Zoro on the street glaring in this direction and then leaving?"

The three of them stare at each other for a few seconds as Sanji curses under his breath, realizing what it must've looked like to the moss head without Usopp at the table. Having the idiot think he asked another ex out for a drink after that argument might just be the death of him.

"Why didn't you say that first? Which way did he go?" Sanji stands up and gathers his cigarette pack and Zoro's phone.

"Down 5th Avenue, but you know how he is with roads."

"Sorry Nami-san. It looks like I'll have to treat you next time."

"It's gonna cost you," the redhead pauses, sounding a tad worried, "do you have a plan?"

"Find him, and..." Sanji bites his lower lip, "and make myself worth it."

"Go get him, girl!" Nami holds up his jacket as he walks past her.

Sanji gives the couple a last wave before throwing his legs over the second floor railing and making the jump onto the wet street below.

Guesswork will always be part of the job with the marimo, but one way or another he'll find the lost idiot and salvage this Valentine's Night that he managed to mess up twice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, this IS the end. I'm better at creating problems than solving them, so this is the closest to a resolution you'll get with this story. I tried. I'm sorry.


End file.
